Unloved it a standout Doom wad. While it utilizes the same gameplay of Doom, the journey plays out like a survival horror game with the player exploring a twisted interconnected environment. The challenge is hard and enemies come in swarms with the game including some custom monsters into the Doom II roster.

The world is atmospheric and this wad is the perfect length of a Doom experience.

I wasn't playing a lot of AAA shooters at the time so I don't know how this truly compares to say what Call of Duty was doing, but for a Wii game that was a remake of a classic console FPS, I really liked this game. I found the levels pretty cool, the controls to be very tight, and the whole game to be a very welcome remake.

Didn't like how the game didn't let you skip cutscenes though, which also made doing time trials a drag.

A remake to start out 2010. I had played an English version of the SNES title but this DS version was the first time I played and beat DQ6. It's a pretty confusing game and while I like the scope of it, I feel the story lacks tone. The plus side is this is a great rendition of the class system and it's a very robust RPG.

It's a solid Mega Man game. What more can be said?

Though it dialed back a lot of the quirk of the original game, I still like so much about Mass Effect 2 including the new characters, how old ones are developed, the missions and, of course, that final showdown. It did lean harder into being a third-person shooter but it was at least funner for it.

This game was the first game in a long time that surprised me with its writing and storytelling. It was better written and more emotional than anything I had experienced. The music was also... the best soundtrack I ever heard? Maybe?

While the story is a downgrade and the locations are not as strong, every thing else in this game is a solid improvement from the first. The action, the weapons, the powers, the customization, the upgrading– all better. This is one of the ultimate RPG-lite shooters.

I played this one before Galaxy 1. It was my first 3D Mario, actually. It was astounding! Such great level design and gamefeel...! I finished this one 100% and it was a blast every step of the way.

Also, Yoshi.

When I got this game I couldn't complete the installation because it required a Steam log-in and my dial-up connection was too slow for Steam. I never got to play this game (on PC), until years later. It was worth the wait because this game rocks.

Astounding writing, pretty good mechanics (although the FPSness of this game is not great). A fun world to explore and a memorable setting. One of the all-time great RPGs.

I had to use my dial-up connection to install the updates but it was doable!

This game might have the best gamefeel and controls of any game I've ever played. Playing through this game on Normal, Hard, than Brutal was incredibly fun. Didn't like how weak the story was, but forgave the writers because the campaign was so good. How this game split multiplayer with the single-player campaign was very good.

Because the expansions owe a lot of their quality to how great this base game is, I'm going to represent them here.

I know the RPG mechanics of this game aren't as in-depth as the original but still found this game really enjoyable and immersive. Crawling around the environments was a thrill and the story was gripping. To this day, this game is one of my favourite immersive sims.

I dismissed the franchise because it seemed juvenile but when I finally took the plunge and checked out this game, I was charmed by its characters and addicted to its open-world icon hunting. There isn't a moment of this game that isn't a lot of fun and while sometimes the humour was weaksauce or just gross in a way I didn't like, it's still a very funny game with even some profound emotional moments.

I've put countless hours into this game and only within the last couple years (writing this in 2021), did I finally finish the game. Although the controls could be better, this is a fun game with construction, combat, and I can't think of many other games where a huge part of the strategy is building a combat arena for bosses. The large sandbox journey of this game is unlike any other and I love it including so many different mechanics and making them work together so well.

This was like nothing else at the time. Heck, I still haven't played any game that fills this hole. What a blast it was, not just playing vanilla but all the cool mods.

The first time I played Minecraft, I couldn't stop. I played this thing through the night. The fact that I was playing in a big immersive world was mesmerizing. It felt like I could do anything. Although I had played so many games before it, as I got into the game in my twenties, it was an experience and wonder that nothing had attained before nor since.

One of the greatest achievements in video games.

This is a refinement of what the first game was trying to do and I can't think of many games where all of its elements are weaved together so perfectly. The moment-to-moment in this game is so drenched in quality.

Despite playing Demon's Souls before it, I still had a hard time with this game the first time I played. Surpassing Demon's didn't make me a natural at this title, mind you. The challenge was delightful though and the experience was transcendent.

This 2012 Doom wad is a favourite. A.L.T. is, on the surface, a pretty typical megawad for Doom II. It's 32 levels, doesn't extend the enemy roster or weapon set, and contains lots of FPS action.

What makes it different is its surreal atmospheric and artistic ambitions. Nothing is explicitly said out loud but the impression I get is that this is a nightmare scenario where the player is running from the inevitability of death. Even if no definitive narrative can be uncovered by this game, the bleak nature of the wad lends to the level design, which is often surreal and dark.

This PS3 enhanced port of Tales of Graces is the ideal way to play it. While I have a lot of problems with the story of this game, the gameplay was top-notch. How you learn skills and the combat were both the franchise at its peak. The enhanced port also has loads of post-game (that I still need to get back to).

When this game came out, I wasn't really attention or caring about the franchise. I heard a lot about the disappointing ending and it discouraged me from checking the game. As years went on, players' feelings recovered and I started to hear a lot about the game's qualities again, including the characters.

Years later I picked up the PS3 Mass Effect box set and when I got to this one, I thought it was a pretty good conclusion on the franchise. I got pretty emotional, to be honest. The real kicker is that behind my back Garrus and Tali got together. Wtf game, Garrus is mine...

This quicky, snappy remake of a strategy classic is a game of its own. I mean, this game is snappy. I don't like how enemies wandered around in groups that only come alive when you find (thus encouraging players to focus on taking one group at a time instead of navigating the map naturally), but the combat was still incredibly good. Although its very easy to get overwhelmed with opposition if you are inoptimal in your progression or you suffer a massive loss, but I never played it iron man style.

This is one of those challenges that felt impossible but one I eventually surpassed. I finished La-Mulana without any guides or help.

It wasn't the most satisfying experience, but years on, I know I had never experience anything like it before or after. It's stuck with me, even if I'm bitter about taking 260 hours to finish the damn thing.

I played this just before Hotline Miami 2 got out. Although I had ignored it for years assuming it was mindless violence, I began to hear a lot about it around the release of the second game. After learning about HM's psychedelic story and presentation, I got intrigued and jumped it a brutal but trippy action experience.

This was an instant fave. It was 10 hours of gruesome but rapid brutal combat. The dialogue, although mostly hard to parse the context of, was memorable and evocative. The music was stellar. I must have only take a week or two before jumping onto the sequel, but it feels like I dwelled on the mysteries of the first game for years.

Gonna shout out some expansions before getting into the meat of this year's selection.

Civilization V was a good game on its own but I think it took this expansion Brave New World for it to become the well-rounded 4X game it needed to be. I don't even remember much of my experience with the game except that I couldn't stop playing.

Similarly, this expansion pack to XCOM: Enemy Unknown rounded out a lot of edges of the game and made it more fleshed out and dynamic. Although I played a lot of vanilla XCOM, this is the ideal way to play.

And a Doom WAD: Doom II The Way Id Did is a collection of 32 (33) maps stylized after classic Doom levels but the batting average on this wad is way higher than any of the original campaigns. There are no bad levels in this batch, and it's not terribly hard like most community wads– the difficulty level is comparable to the original Doom II campaign.

Although I was disappointed with a superficial story that's not nearly as clever and satirical as it thinks it is as well as a world where it's hard to find things to do, this was a game where I found myself drawn in to the environment and general feel of moving around this world.

Also, I got in a plane and flew so high I could see the curvature of the Earth and right then and there was when I abandoned my Flat Earth beliefs and joined the Globeheads.

I heard the controversy before playing this game, but– darn it– exploring this house was so comfy. It was so warm and cozy, unlike most of the houses I've lived in.

This is one of those games that utilizes the aesthetics and language of a certain kind of game (like GBA Zelda titles) and applies those things to a new artistic expression. Anodyne is a sickly and dark look into isolation and social anxiety, while also being a tantalizing mindscrew.

The game gets a lot out of its several vignettes and environments.

The first game I beat for the 3DS. Took me some time to get around to it.

This is a great reinvention of the Zelda formula, tapping into the NES games but also bringing in a lot of the 3D stuff from the N64 days to the DS games. Had a lot of fun with this one.

How could have the developers done better than Saint's Row The Third? I'd say this fourth game is even better.

The power fantasy here is wild but I also love the writing. This was the most humanistic writing so far in the franchise and the characters were so much fun!

This open-world platformer impressed me with its style and addictive exploration.

Once you get into the main part (Chapter 3), the game turns into this humongous interconnected world that is so much fun to wander and complete its challenges. There's also a lot of additional content stuck in this game (oftentimes hidden). Discovering all this game's secrets was incredibly satisfying and Knytt Underground is a well-rewarding clandestine title. It's approach of including several different sublevels and stories gives the game a stream-of-conscious feel that isn't often found in games. It's very personal while also being a gamey-ass platformer.

The base game Don't Starve is interesting enough. I've played a good chunk of it and had some good times, but this expansion extends the weather mechanics and enemy roster enough that it feels feature complete for the first time. With Reign of Giants, there's more of a distinct end-goal even if the game can technically go on forever.

I've yet to finish this version but I've played enough to know it's the most well-rounded take on this game so far.

Going Down might be my favourite Doom wad. It's uses all the usual weapons and monsters. I don't think there's even much in the way of custom textures.

This is a super cohesive and psychedelic take on a Doom campaign that puts in the work to come up with interesting ideas each level. Levels are usually small but jam packed full of action.

I love blobbers, including this real-time kind. Making my own party and then exploring this game world with all of its challenges and riddles was really good entertainment. I wish certain skills and strategies weren't balanced so weakly but this is a great blobber.

Shovel Knight was originally released in 2014, but since then has had several expansions. While I could include them individually as the Shovel Knight experience is consistently great across expansions, it's also a sum of its parts. I like Shovel Knight because it's four campaigns, a Smash Bros mode, a bunch of challenges, and plenty of achievements to test your skills all wrapped into one. Shovel Knight was an excellent platforming experience for 2014 but Shovel Knight: Treasure Trove is an ecosystem and I love how each part of its gameplay compliments each other.

Dark Souls II was a disappointment when I first played it. There wasn't anything terribly wrong with it, but I played it and it just washed over me. It felt just... okay.

I took some time and I've come back to it several times. While I still think it's a little long, I've grown to enjoy it's locations and finds its build variety to be a huge motivation and returning to it so many times. I like how it expands the story of Dark Souls while also being characteristically apathetic on so many of the first game's concepts and characters. It maintained the feeling this being a desolate world where meaning is melting away.

Special mention to Scholar of the First Sin which is a great remix on the game and partly responsible for so many of my return playthroughs.

This was a splendid puzzle game. I liked the world, the very occult secrets, and the apocalyptic story was pretty affecting. I finished this one 100% but the DLC was too hard. It really was one of the best puzzle games I ever played, and when I rank it up, it's not even my favourite puzzle game of this year!

Yeeeeeeaaaaaah!

I didn't know what to think going into this game but I quickly grew to love it as its fast-paced platforming action was snappy and its 16-bit inspired gameplay ideas were addictive. The graphics are eye candy; I couldn't say no to its charms! While it does have a small problem of the fast traversal and close-quarters combat being two different worlds that don't mix well, this is still a fun game. I like the characters too even if the story is lackluster.

And that soundtrack, oh goodie. It's a knockout!

Full Bore is a nice surprise.

It's a puzzle-platformer where you play a boar looking for gems but it evolves into a much stranger and fascinating story. The mechanics and challenges are super-fun. The music is great and the back parts of the game will surprise you. One of my favourite puzzle games.

One of the best artistic expressions in video games. What happens when you take a turn-based RPG, stick it into a desolate post-apocalypse, add in some absurdist humour and imagery, and let it run wild. One reason why this game is so engaging is the limitcore aspects– the gameplay mechanics that revolve around limited items, money, chances for experience, and even the idea of party members permanently dying. There's a sense of risk and sacrifice in everything you do! The world is hostile to your very existence.

It's also a very emotional story that delves into the dark side of humanity.

The music's also aces.

Gonna start out 2015 with some Doom wads.

Sunlust is one of those famously hard wads, and that's saying a lot since the Doom community's idea of hard is more potent than most players are accustomed to.

It's hard, and enemy counts are in the tens of thousands but it's also well designed and visually fascinating.

Valiant splits up its 32 level campaign into 5 episodes, each with its own theme. This wad gets a lot out of its themes and the level design never falters, from the first episode that's like if a techbase was built into a South American mountain, to the final Moon episode.

While Dark Souls II set down a lot of ideas that are commendable, the frame of Scholar of the First Sin rearranged them way more effectively. The enemy encounters are sharper and the challenge is simultaneously more engaging while also being less cheap. The expanded story is interesting and builds on the themes from the vanilla game and franchise as a whole. I'm happy to have put hundreds of hours into this title.

I have a very distinct memory of listening to Ween's Shinola Vol 1 while playing this game and coming to the realization that it's such a comfy game. I've probably come back to it more than DaS1!

To start out 2015 proper, here's an adventure game!

A point-and-click adventure that pulls from an era that is aesthetically very cool but underrepresented: Japanese-only mid-90's adventure games.

This is a cyberpunk story but with a lot of optimism and warmth. I wasn't fully involved with the plot but I did enjoy the atmosphere and world a lot. Again, the music (which leans into a MegaDrive/Genesis sound) is superb.

A game I think I'll need to finish more than once to truly grasp but even one complete playthrough of this game was engrossing and satisfying. The world is interesting, I found character building to be rewarding, and it's a snappy game that you can finish in a fraction of the time of a regular RPG.

This is a crunchy-ass RPG with lots of mechanics and so many build options! Even if I have only played once, I had such a great time. Getting around without a map was a pain in the butt but it also lended itself to a feeling of mystery and lostness. I don't remember much about the plot but I remember loving the world it inhabited.

There are times when I think Bloodborne is better than Dark Souls. There are times when I forgive it's lack of meaningful build variety and stat-growth and embrace it's truly cool Lovecraftian gothic setting and fast-paced combat. It's eldritch atmosphere consumes me everytime I play it.

The Lovecraftian aspects of this game cannot be understated. Nothing else delves into the otherworldly as deeply as this game.

On the surface, Environmental Station Alpha is a pretty solid Metroidvania with a cool power arc, interesting bosses, and a very tight game world to explore.

But underneath that layer is a humongous puzzle full of clandestine secrets and mind-expanding lore. After completing ESA and it's gruesome post-game challenges, I knew what the indie scene was capable of with the Metroidvania formula.

Hotline Miami 2 takes the gameplay of the first and pushes it beyond it's limits.

That's not a good thing. Not only is the level design not as tight as the first, the difficulty is overwhelming and often cheap.

Oh well, I love it more than the first anyway.

But why? Because of the story. HM2 is a journey into a society crumbling all around using the perspective of multiple protagonists to show the rot and destruction of civilization from many angles. The mysteries are inconclusive. The carnage is psychedelic. If Hotline Miami was like a bad trip, then its sequel is like a death dream.

The music is one of the best video game soundtracks out there.

Yeeeeah, there was very little chance that I wouldn't have loved this game. It's hard to pinpoint what exactly about Undertale is specifically Earthboundesque but that Earthboundesque part of its charm is a reason why I loved it. I think it nails the same kind of low-key cinematic emotionality that Earthbound was really good at. The splendid music also helps a lot and it was when I first heard "ANOTHER MEDIUM" in the Hot Zone that I had a feeling the game was going to be a favourite of mine.

Its toony style of fantasy is delightful, and its goofy characters are loads of fun but also very endearing. I have criticisms for the combat system because a single-hero party with that kind of FIGHT / ACT / ITEM action-style can be troublesome if you find yourself losing a lot of health. That's about all the flaws I think are significant enough. This game is an experience. I could nitpick a lot of small things, like maybe the ending is a touch too anime, but those issues don't take away from the fact that I walked away from Undertale completely ecstatic.

I loved exploring this world and the characters and the dialogue. These characters are some of my favourite in video games and in media in general. The emotional beats hit so hard. There is a big joy to this narrative and a big sadness.

Moving into 2016, we have another Doom wad. I don't usually like community collaboration wads, but the levels in JPCP break expectations. The levels are consistently creative and fun and don't try to make themselves memorable by taking up absurd amounts of the player's time.

While this game is not doing too much that's really new, it has a very specific and enjoyable recipe to its puzzle platforming action. Putting aside its light-dark puzzle mechanic, I want to focus on the narrative and atmosphere. The storytelling of Even the Ocean hits a very granular tone that makes it pretty standout. Even as the game introduces several over-the-top characters and concepts, how they interact with the story is so organic that it would be a flaw if it weren't for everything else in the game helping this mild atmosphere.

The game, helped by the dreary and melancholic music, is depressive but also beautiful.

I was on the fence on whether or not the Tales franchise was a series worth paying attention to, and this game set me right. The story here is very humanistic with some of the series' best characters and the world is involved. While the level designs are lackluster, the combat is very strong and snappy.

Oof, talk about a game I enjoyed decently but was still disappointed in. It's not often that I get hyped for a game as much as I did for Persona 5 and it's wishy-washy story that takes so long to go nowhere and a lack of difficulty hurt my experience (the latter could have been remedied with me choosing a harder setting).

I still enjoyed it for pushing the franchise forward with improved mechanics and a killer style. Most the graphics and music are top-notch and made me want to just stay in that world forever. The soundtrack, consisting of a lot of soul and jazz-fusion, is so realized and unlike anything else in video games. It's one of those soundtracks that undeniably excellent.

This game is pretty flawed and definitely unfinished but it still had enough there to give me a realized experience. Ultimately, this game made me feel for Noctis and his friends. The story of Final Fantasy XV is the story of a young prince chosen by destiny to carry out an overwhelming mission when he would really prefer to just hang out with his best friends and is (eventually) robbed of that basic human interaction.

The combat is pretty basic but I had a lot of good times just exploring this world with it's Route 66-punk Fantasy world. I would just walk around and be fascinated.

When I first got this game, I played a couple minutes, got frustrated and quit.

A little while later, I played a couple more minutes than quit.

That happened maybe once or twice over.

Then finally I got my teeth into it. I started playing it again and I stuck with it. Besides being stuck on THAT stage in world two, this was a pretty paced trek to the credits. I love this game for throwing you in the deep end and forcing you to figure out how the game works in its stark glory. Not many games do something like that, but it would often be framed as 'objectively' bad game design, but I really like it here.

One of my favourite puzzle games.

Is it pretentious? Eh, maybe a bit; but The Witness is a very realized experience featuring a cool world to explore with challenging puzzles. Not to mention, the second layer of secrets. I played this one when it came out and was part of the conversation about it. I think this game is great and I like the mechanics and how hands-off the game is at teaching them although I remember some of them not being explained terribly well.

From playing the game to talking about it with peers, this is still one of those video game experiences unlike anything else I had played.

This romhack could be frustrating with how hard it could be, but I loved the creativity and not often does a community game modding project feel so inspired and alive. It's like a party!

This is a special entry not for the original Final Fantasy VII but rather the mod New Threat from Sega Chief. I played version 1.5 which came out around 2017. This game takes the pretty fun but mechanically unengaging FF7 and adds in new features, new obstacles, and lots of crunchy challenge.

To start off 2017, I mention the Zodiac Age remaster of Final Fantasy XII, which expanded its mechanics and introduced a proper job system to the game, at least in a way not seen before on American shores.

I was hyped for this sucker. When I found out the license boards for all the classes, I literally planned how I was going to develop my party. I still have that document on me, the one where I planned out my party. Getting to chart out how my game was going to go and then utilizing it on my playthrough was very cool.

This was so affirming for me and I love this remaster. I don't think I'll ever go back to the 2006 original.

This is a narrative game and maybe I found the conclusion to this plot unsatisfactory, but there were so many good moments in this story that most other games don't come close to. For example, I related to Bea and her feeling of isolation moreso than any other character in video games.

The broken mining town setting was a refreshing take and the art is very good.

This game takes Chrono Trigger-esque turn-based battles and gives them layers upon layers of complexity and depth. It's a good 15-20 hours of gameplay and the music and graphics are splendid! This is game that I've played through several times already because it's so infectious and easy to pick up. Challenges come quick and are rewarding and satisfying.

This is one of those Metroidvanias that takes a lot of influence from many genres but mixes them pretty well. It's closer to the Castlevania than the Metroid but it also has Dark Soulsness in there and overall it's a pretty cohesive experience with invigorating challenges and a massive world to explore.

While the mechanics serve as framework for a game's narrative and themes, those narrative and themes are very, very good. The tragic story of NieR: Automata is one of the best in video games. Uncovering the layers of this bleak and beautiful tale of meaning and hopelessness is a video game exploiting it's own conventions to twist a player's heart.

It's one of those games that makes you appreciate video game direction.

Beautiful to look at with each level being a pocket of intricate action, this Doom megawad is a classic and perhaps one could hope for on a game's 25th anniversary. It took me a long time to appreciate this title as I originally had issues with how the game compartmentalized its episodes and how sharing themes between levels made them blur together in my mind, but I'm on the other side of this campaign now and I think it's awesome.

If you ask me, this is the Dragon Quest franchise at one of its peaks. This is a perfect game, I'm saying.

This is also me recognizing that I don't like the direction that the franchise has gone with an abundance of sidequests and enemies on the field instead of random encounters.

This is still one of my favourite games of 2018 because it was a great journey to play and the realization that the franchise might have evolved in a way I don't like doesn't take away from what I got out of this game and how much I hope more people discover it.

While the late game gimmick is underwhelming, the second-to-second gameplay is so good. I don't often play platforming-actions as tight as The Messenger.

I have mixed feelings on this title, but in the end it's a very in-depth and clever large-scale Metroidvania with cool riddles and puzzles. I think this game is a lot fairer to the player compared to the first. The puzzles are just better designed. Like the first one, I refused a guide or hints so all the frustration was my own fault but I'm okay with that.

Hell, it took me a shorter amount of time to finish this one compared to the first!

It took the mechanics of the first game, and expanded them. The gameplay is refined with more levels that function as multi-faceted tactical challenges. The story is of comparable quality to the first, if not better entirely.

What can I say about this one? A feel-good but challenging platformer with a captivating story about anxiety, amazing platforming with quick respawn, and a challenge level that lets you engage with the game on its own terms? And the MUSIC!

The only thing bad I have to say is that there is no pixel font available, but that was probably an accessibility thing.

The roguelite that got me back into roguelikes. The platforming and action controls extremely well. The pace of Dead Cells is so quick that even when I die a hundred times, I am not deeply demotivated.

I've put 150 hours into this thing and have gotten 3 Boss Cells and this game continues to be rewarding and engaging.

There are a lot of Doom wads that have humongous levels that take forever. Lost Civilization's levels are large but they're also non-linear and easy to navigate, not to mention delightfully detailed and full of creative combat encounters. It's never exhausting to play Lost Civilization and it's lots of fun.

Although the mechanics of Anodyne 2 are strong, like the first game they serve as a framework for the kind of narrative the developers are selling.

Anodyne 2: Return to Dust is a surreal story about choosing your path and perhaps corrupting the world around you by doing so. There are so many moments in this game that are unforgettable.

Oxygen Not Included finds the middle-ground between accessibility and complexity, letting the player get into a colony-building game with ease with its pick-up-and-play mechanics and cute graphics, but demanding mastery over the game's very complex systems to achieve victory. That hasn't happened yet for me but I still have a great time playing the game.

Another puzzle game in the top spot! I was hyped for Baba Is You and watched it's development and when it came out it was everything I wanted: a very crunchy puzzle game with cool tricks, a wide scope, and lots of surprises. Puzzle games can be hard, but the cute graphics and comfortable music made me relax and enjoy myself. I love Baba! I wish I could be friends with Baba, but I can't.